WASHINGTON — After yet another harsh crackdown on peaceful protesters, Washington waded a bit further into the Ukrainian crisis by sending a State Department official to have a “realistic” conversation with President Viktor Yanukovych — a chat that likely wasn’t what the demonstrators were looking for.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel also hopped on the phone with his Ukrainian counterpart to warn Defense Minister Pavlo Lebedyev “not to use the Armed Forces of Ukraine against the civilian population in any fashion.”

“He underlined the potential damage of any involvement by the military in breaking up the demonstrations and called for restraint,” Pentagon spokesman Carl Woog said in a statement. “Minister Lebedyev stated that it is President Yanukovych’s position not to use the Armed Forces against the protesters and said he would pass the Secretary’s message directly to President Yanukovych.”

Tensions escalated when, before dawn on Wednesday, police wielded chainsaws against barriers the pro-democracy demonstrators had erected around Independence Square in Kiev to protect their ranks.

State security services have already said they’ll charge protest leaders with trying to stage a coup. Protesters, however, maintain that they’re simply asserting their democratic rights and fury over Yanukovych’s refusal to pull Kiev closer to the European Union.

Not only is the president blocking off routes to modernization and greater trade opportunities for Ukraine, but he did so under the thumb of Moscow. President Vladimir Putin, eager to exert whatever control he can over the Soviet-era sphere, promised trade sanctions and a sharp hike in natural gas prices if Ukraine agreed to an EU deal, but excellent discounts on gas if Yanukovych took Moscow’s preferred route.

Yanukovych issued a statement on his website inviting “representatives of all political forces, priests, public figures to hold the nationwide dialogue” and end the protests.

“I have repeatedly emphasized that the only possible way is the way of reconciliation and consensus. The actions of both parties should be taken solely within the laws and the Constitution of Ukraine,” he said. “…In order to achieve compromise, I urge the opposition not to refuse, not to choose the path of confrontation and ultimatums. I assure that the government will act exclusively in the framework of the law and will never use force against peaceful rallies.”

But former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Yanukovych’s key opponent jailed in 2011, urged her countrymen to “rise up” and not fall for the president’s tactics.

“Every time a Berkut baton strikes a blow on a peaceful person at Maidan it is a blow to the face of the Ukrainian people. Don’t let Yanukovych to make violence a norm in our lives. I urge every Ukrainian to stand up!” Tymoshenko said in a statement posted on her website. “No negotiations or roundtables with bandits – only the immediate resignation of Yanukovych and his entourage.”

“I also appeal to the leaders of the democratic world. Every time a Berkut baton strikes a blow on a peaceful protester defending Maidan it is a blow to the universal values that you are trying to make the foundation of human life,” she added. “I beg you to act! Stop the authoritarian regime in Ukraine with financial and visa sanctions, and start international investigations into their corruption. Otherwise a cemetery for freedom burial will be built in Ukraine. Act!”

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, who was recently press secretary under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was sent to Moscow on Monday for “productive bilateral meetings” on a host of issues including urging Russia to “use its influence to press for peace, human dignity and a political solution.”

On Wednesday, Nuland met with Yanukovych for two hours. Afterward, she told reporters, “I hope the people of Ukraine know that the United States stands with you in your search for justice, for human dignity, for security, for economic health and for the European future that you have chosen and you deserve.”

She said the meeting with Yanukovych “was a tough conversation, but it was a realistic one.”

It was also one where the U.S. did not advocate for the main demand of the protesters and Tymoshenko: that Yanukovych step down.

“I made it absolutely clear to him that what happened last night, what has been happening in security terms here, is absolutely impermissible in a European state, in a democratic state. But we also made clear that we believe there is a way out for Ukraine, that it is still possible to save Ukraine’s European future and that is what we want to see the president lead,” Nuland said.

Perhaps we should resolve the issue of the relationship between our own fraud president and Islamic factions such as the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic terrorist he is supporting in the Mideast before getting involved in the affairs of Russia. !

He will if it suits the goals of dominating world energy markets and the wealth of his political powerful financiers and handlers! If it does not involve wealth transfer, the workers to the already rich and to the government dependent class he will not touch it!